No Apology Necessary

Barack Obama said it a few weeks back "We ended up launching a war that should have never been authorized, and should never been waged, and on which we have now spent $400 billion, and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted."

John McCain said it last night on The Late Show We wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives over there." I heard him make that comment, but frankly, there was no blip on my radar.

Our bravest young Americans, our most precious treasure "wasted". How can you fault anyone and demand an apology when one is speaking truth? Obama apologized immediately, "It is not at all what I intended to say, and I would absolutely apologize if any (military families) felt that in some ways it had diminished the enormous courage and sacrifice that they'd shown." saying he was upset with himself for using that word. McCain backpedaled saying he regrets the comment, “I should have used the word, sacrificed, as I have in the past,”

I don't know why the Democratic National Committee is howling about McCain's use of the word. Is sacrifice a better word? According to dictionary.com sacrifice means Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim. Wasted means to be consumed, spent, or employed uselessly or without giving full value or being fully utilized or appreciated.

Using the apparently preferred word sacrifice implies that this hideous war has more value than the life of my son, Lt Ken Ballard and the 3164 casualties from Iraq and that his death was for the greater good. I disagree, as do many of the members of Gold Star Families Speak Out. And I think this media maelstrom is a bit overdone. When you have these kinds of disagreements about semantics; you are taking your eye off what really counts. And when you have these kinds of disagreements about simple words, you are buying into the Bush administration who is excellent at hiding the true cost of this war. They want us to believe that there is a better outcome ahead and that our loved ones lives were not wasted. But, these lives were wasted. Any life cut short is wasted, but a death because of this war is a huge waste to the family, friends, and this nation. This war will never have been a greater value than the lives of our loved ones.

I'd rather we work on the plan to get our troops out of Iraq, and how we can take good care of them when they get home. I'd rather worry about the condition of the Veteran's Administration as it related to the care given to our troops. I'd rather work on providing these soldiers on the ground in Iraq & Afghanistan with the proper training, and supplies that are necessary to keep them safe until we can get them home. There are so many other things to worry about. This argument is irrelevant.

And I really don't need or want an apology when someone is speaking the truth.